With research showing that the SDGs have had little political impact, the September 18-19 UN SDG Summit must pave the way for four major changes in how the SDGs are implemented and governed globally, argues an international group of sustainability experts.
On 18-19 September, the United Nations will convene a major summit to review the state of the Sustainable Development Goals -- the 17 global goals that governments agreed upon in 2015 to guide action towards a prosperous and just future.
Second, the SDGs must be adjusted to new challenges, improved scientific understanding, and past failures in implementation. The goals must become more adaptable to escalating crises of ecological breakdown, global pandemics, and rising inequalities, and the UN should introduce regular review rounds where countries can adjust their ambitions to evolving global circumstances.
Third, the SDGs are not legally binding and are often merely vague commitments. While this approach has helped to bring all governments together under the broad banner of the SDGs, it is no longer enough. Instead, governments must together take steps to turn at least parts of the SDGs into binding international law. The authors highlight the ongoing negotiations for an international treaty to end plastic pollution as an example, which is linked to SDG 12 .
Fourth, many SDGs are poorly embedded in the structures, policies, practices, and norms of local, national, and international institutions and political systems. Governments need to build stronger institutions, both internationally and at home, to make the SDGs a fundamental part of how they operate and make decisions. To support this, the researchers argue that much stronger global oversight of the SDGs is needed.
The UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals sit at the heart of the UN's global"2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development." One of a string of recent high-profile global megaconferences attempting to mobilize action for a sustainable future, the UN SDG Summit in September 2023 could act as a springboard to achieving the goals by 2030.
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